


In Response to.....

by ModernArt2012



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: JJ is an unmitigated ass, M/M, There's a Lot of References to Scientists, They're both in Genetics, academic au, but is brilliant, hidden identity, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 11:28:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13386858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ModernArt2012/pseuds/ModernArt2012
Summary: Part of the Academic AU (emphasis on the universe) I’m working on. No clue if it’ll ever end/ be completed, so here’s a ficlet in that universe.





	In Response to.....

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vibidi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vibidi/gifts).



> For Fry

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Yuri growled at the rebuttal Dr. O. Altin had published. There was no way in Hell he was counter-arguing that jump dispersal theory couldn't have produced the results it did. Yuri had outlined his statistical processes, all his assumptions, all of the cross validation he had done on over a thousand species records, and this man had the  _ gall _ to argue that jump dispersal theory couldn’t have had enough individuals successfully complete the jumps to spread their genes? The results spoke for themselves! And sure, perhaps some individuals died on the way over, but that would be natural selection! Okay, not really - natural selection involved being more suited to adapt the environment. Yuri knew better than that, and didn’t want to be laughed out of the field of evolutionary genetics, but still. This Dr. Altin was getting on his every last nerve. 99% probability across so many species wasn’t anything to laugh at.

 

He closed out of the student papers he was grading and gave Potya a thorough stroking as his computer booted up Word. Oh, but this Dr. Altin was going to get a piece of his mind.

 

* * *

  
  


Yuri was having a good day. He’d thrashed that Dr. Altin something good, then throttled the latest theory out of Viktor’s lab. Stupid geezer needed to stop panting after Dr. Katsuki’s research like a horn dog and just screw the man already - get it out of his system and go back to producing proper research instead of just validating findings. At least Dean Yakov was staying out of it. 

 

Then at speed Georgi rounded the corner. “Yura! Have you read Otabek’s response to your thoughts on his response?” 

 

Yuri nearly dropped his mug of coffee. “What.” 

 

Georgi thrust the latest edition of the magazine in his face, open to the reader responses section. And there it was, Dr. Altin had responded. “The unmitigated fucker. Georgi, I’m going to borrow this.” With absolutely zero remorse, Yuri yanked the journal out of his hands and stormed down the halls back to his office. Fuck, Mila could cover his class, it was only idiotic undergrads taking an intro level course for breadth credits. No one important was in that class anyways.

 

* * *

 

It went on like this for months. It had become something of a running gag in the department, and probably at the conventions and symposiums Yuri had been ducking out of. His research wasn’t something to turn into the butt of a joke, and if he ever met this Dr. Altin he was going to punch his face in. Wait no. Yuri needs his hands for pipetting. Fucking kick his face in. Yuri was going to fucking kick his face in, dammit. 

 

“You know Yuri, you really need to relax a little.” Why the everloving flaming shit that was Jean-Jacques Leroy was in his lab was completely beyond Yuri. JJ (of questionable doctoral achievement) was in the fucking  _ humanities _ , music of all things, and had no business sullying the lauded halls of science with his ...  _ artsy-fartsy-ness _ . Yuri wonders if he can pay Dean Yakov to have the entire building sterilized. JJ was still talking, like they were friends  or something, and Yuri wished he would go away. 

 

“Whatever, sure, JJ. Now get out of my lab!” Yuri breathed carefully, he only had one shot at getting this DNA into the gel and had no other samples from this specimen to use. If he pierced the gel or didn’t get the tip in deep enough he was fucked.

 

JJ perked up. “Seriously? Come to this address at 7pm tonight. You won’t be disappointed!” 

 

Fucking damn. What had Yuri signed himself up for. Hopefully another dive bar surprise concert. Yuri could at least get drunk at those. Irritated, Yuri returned to his gel and carefully putting in bits of DNA to PCR.

 

* * *

 

Yuri showed up in carefully neutral clothing - the Internet had failed him and he hadn’t been able to find what kind of restaurant this place was. Hopefully it was neither some hipster place - fucking hipsters - nor too upscale - Yuri doubted his best academic blazer and skinny jeans would get him entrance to such a place. His taxi’s arrival at what appeared to be a pub was a bit of a relief, even if Yuri had to brace himself for boorish overweight males of the species pretending like the sports on the television was anything close to the manly manliness of fighting in a battle or whatever their less intelligent than average lizard hind-brains made of the act of tackling and grunting. 

 

The hostess led him to a booth and gave him the drinks menu. There was hockey on the television, and fewer grunting neanderthals than expected, a surprise overall given the beer-heavy drinks available. The draft he got was enjoyable, and he was contemplating getting another when a man with dark hair slid into the booth across from him. Clearly the academic type, from his navy blue cable knit sweater and the button up and tie peeking over the v neck to the sweater. Still, the man was young, dark hair trendily cut with the sides shorn short and the top cut long. “Good evening. I’m Otabek. I’m sorry I’m late, I’m new to the city.” 

 

Yuri sets aside his thoughts on  getting another beer, and turns his attentions to the person across from him. “I’m Yuri. Let me guess, JJ?” 

 

Even without explaining further, he knows he’s hit the nail on the head at the bashful nod from Otabek. Yuri’s sympathetic. “If you want, we can TP his office. I have after-hours building access campus-wide and can pick a lock.” 

 

The hint of a small, if shyly amused smile, is enough of a ‘yes’ to have Yuri pulling on his companion’s wrist to drag him into the night. 

 

* * *

 

They both collapsed inside the Star Garden rotunda, out of breath. “Holy Darwin, I didn’t think Mike could _ run _ with his size.” Mike, the entirely too .... voluptuous, if Yuri was going to be kind, security guard for the arts building, who usually did nothing all day except make sure no art student mixed meth in their studios and watch porn on the security televisions, had chased them across campus and then some without serious impediment. 

 

Otabek is sprawled out on the ground, rumpled and askew, and wholly attractive in the most unfair manner - worse than the video of Dr. Katsuki pole dancing, even. The light of the street lights filter through the holes poked in the dome of the gazebo, like a million stars piercing through the darkness and dappling the floor with pinpricks of illumination. Yuri doesn’t know if him losing breath is because his lungs refuse to work from exertion, or because his breath had literally been  _ taken away _ . Maybe he needs to increase the number of hours he dances a week, or maybe he  _ needs to kiss Otabek like there’s no tomorrow. _

 

Only one of these options is viable in the present, and Yuri goes for broke. 

 

Surprisingly, Otabek takes being pounced on and ravaged like a surprised but willing gentleman. Sure, Yuri has to  _ put _ Otabek’s hands on his ass mid-make out, but it’s cute. Like, where in Nature’s blue planet did JJ find someone like this? Not in the arts, those guys all have STDs or asshole personalities or  _ both _ . It’s whatever, Otabek is a quick learner, and finds the good spot behind Yuri’s ear that gets him moaning like the whore he lived next to during graduate school. Except not faked. Otabek’s a really good kisser, okay, and if Yuri didn’t have a one-date policy, he’d take Otabek back to his apartment and call in sick for the rest of the week. 

 

They disentangle with further panting, and dammit Yuri _ does _ need to up his cardio. “Right, so I have a one date policy. You’re not coming back to my place quite yet, so how about tomorrow we have a second date, then go and make like we’re the last survivors of the species  _ homo sapiens sapiens _ trying to repopulate the Earth?” 

 

Otabek - who looks like he got hit by Typhoon Yuri and  _ got hotter _ somehow, how even - frowns. “My flight leaves tomorrow at 9am.” 

 

Ah. Logistics. Yuri is good at these sorts of problems, even though he thunks his head back to Otabek’s well-toned chest in frustration. Then he paws out Otabek’s phone - to protests, but look, Yuri’s got a plan. “My number. And my email addresses, personal and university, my facebook, and my skype.” He hits the save button. “Now I’m going to walk you back to your hotel and we’re definitely going to part ways at the entrance and then keep in touch because I had fun tonight and I think you did too and you had some interesting thoughts about the conservation of genes over meiosis events in regards to speciation that I’d like to hear more about.” And Yuri has no clue why he’s blurting this all out. Where’s his cool? His usual composure? Fuck, did this dude scramble it with his  _ tongue _ ? Is that a thing that can happen from making out like a teenager? 

 

Otabek smiles, generously lighting up his face with something warm and gentle. “I’d like that a lot.” 

 

* * *

 

Yuri likes to think he has a work-life balance. That is to say, the two are some unholy amalgam that run together with not defined lines of what has what time and place. He takes Otabek’s calls on his lunch hour and spends his time off work reminding himself why he can’t hire a hitman to take care of Dr. Altin. He still makes time to terrorize the undergrads though, because what is life without a little pain and terror. It’s good for the soul, and builds character. 

 

Every now and again, he and Otabek meet. During the long summer months, and random conferences. Yuri’s debating taking a secondment to Otabek’s university for a year; but it’s only been 9 months and a secondment is a little serious for someone you’ve only been dating -if they’re even dating? Are they dating? Are they exclusive or open? Mendel in Heaven, send Yuri divine guidance! - 9 months. 

 

Every so often, Yuri has to write a rebuttal to Dr. Altin’s latest piece. They’ve moved on from jump-dispersal theory, because Yuri provided enough evidence that Dr. Altin caved - okay, that’s pure speculation, but Yuri’s taking that as the truth because  _ Occam’s Razor _ \- and now they’re arguing over the ethics of reviving extinct but ecologically necessary animals. It’s nice to butt heads with someone who’s on the same level of brilliance as you over niche academic topics that pretty much no one else cares about except as a part of larger trends in the field. Yuri feels like he’s got a real, bona fide arch nemesis on the other end of the paper, and life’s good. 

 

It'd be better if JJ was dead, but the asshole is like a cockroach and cannot be killed by mortal means, and thus must be borne until one of the music students garrotes him with a guitar string. Yuri tells Otabek as much on their next Skype date. 

 

Otabek frowns, “You have an arch nemesis?” Of course Otabek would comment on that bit. Fair enough, that does tend to be remarkable enough to get tripped up on.

 

Yuri shrugs. “This author who I keep butting heads with. Dr. Altin is actually really smart, even if he has objections to some of my points. Though I still maintain I won that jump-dispersal theory fight.” Yuri’s not sure, but he thinks Otabek frowns, then laughs under his breath. Yuri is enraptured, predominantly because Otabek is foreboding and stoic upon first impression, but kind hearted with a core of steely determination, and his laughs change his entire appearance to more reflect that inside rather than first impression. 

 

“Yura, it's late. You have to teach an 8am tomorrow.” Fuck shitty flaming Watson, he does. “Sleep well Yura, give Potya my love.” Yuri, impulsively, blows a kiss as Otabek hangs up, and he swears he sees Otabek’s face burn scarlet.

 

* * *

 

Yuri stares at the title of the paper, then down at the author line. He’s got to be hallucinating. It wouldn’t be the first time - the mycology man down in the basement once accidentally got hallucinogenic mushrooms spores in the coffee supply, everyone was tripping for  _ days _ . No, no the online edition confirmed the paper version wasn’t a misprint. 

 

Where the hell did Dr. Altin get off defending Yuri’s results to someone else’s critiques? Sure, Yuri’s defense was published before Dr. Altin’s in the magazine, but this was a step out of line! An Arch Nemesis shouldn’t be on Yuri’s side! Unless this was some sort of proprietary bullshit, like, ‘only I can be Yuri’s Arch Nemesis!’ Except, no, that's too anime, no one does that in real life. It's much more likely that it's just a scientist taking a side in an argument that happened to align with Yuri. 

 

JJ pops his head in Yuri’s office door. “Princess! So Otabek finally told you, huh?” 

 

It's instinct more than reflex that prevents Yuri from tossing a boiling cup of coffee into JJ’s face. Why the fuck was this maple sugar-filled sack of shit here again? Who even let the asshole in? Did he have the resources to run the contamination protocol so soon again after the last time? Then the cat in the wheel that runs his brain starts spinning again, and the words register. “Told me what?”

 

“Oh, You don’t know? Huh. Sorry, Princess, my lips are sealed.” Oh. Fucking JJ. 

 

Yuri chugs the rest of coffee and firmly puts down his favorite mug. With preparations complete, he breathes deeply, then cracks his knuckles with intent. JJ, for once understanding a hint-and-then-some of menace, flees. 

 

* * *

 

It’s not a one off event - sometimes Dr. Altin agrees with Yuri, sometimes he disagrees, but the fact remains:  _ sometimes Dr. Altin agrees _ . Yuri doesn’t know what to make of this situation. Dr. Altin makes points and take positions that Yuri has dismissed, or overlooked, or failed to even think of. Which is all well and good, because at least Dr. Altin is competent as a nemesis, but also terrifying because it’s almost like Dr. Altin can read Yuri’s mind. And also, this makes it seem like they’re friends? Can Yuri be friends with his nemesis? Emil in Philosophy and Classics fails to answer him and takes up hiding behind Mickey from Medieval Studies, and that’s a fight Yuri doesn’t want to take up again. 

 

Mila teases him relentlessly, about having not one but  _ two _ boyfriends in the same field and Yuri isn’t blushing because she’s right - Yuri’s never met Dr. Altin in his life, much less  _ dated _ him - but rather the implication, even though it’s... intriguing, in a theoretical power couple sort of way. Still, Yuri plugs on and doesn’t look a gift ally in the mouth, especially when he and Dr. Altin utterly  _ destroy _ something Baldie published in some sort of weird duet-concerto.

 

Otabek seems to think the whole thing is hilarious, which Yuri thinks is a plus and definitely means Yuri extensively researches if the university allows him to take a post at a different foreign university for an extended period while still being faculty there. Toronto was far enough away from JJ wasn’t it?

 

* * *

 

He’s asked to lecture at Otabek’s university, and Yuri goes because it gives him a paid vacation and a chance to scope out the department in person. He doesn’t tell Otabek, because it’s a surprise and those are supposed to be  _ romantic _ or whatever Baldie is using to justify his latest scandalizing antic these days. 

 

Except, as he’s touring the department with the Dean, they stop by the main auditorium to listen to one of the professors as they lecture to first year students, half of whom look like they’re only in class to undress their professor with their eyes. Yuri’s blood runs to liquid nitrogen. That. No.

 

The Dean laughs jovially, “Dr. Altin is one of our best professors. We’re very proud to have him here. I don’t suppose you’d like an introduction?”

 

Yuri feels like he’s become a robot, heart racing in equal part horrified nerves and boiling rage. “Actually. I’d love to meet with him.” The Dean smiles like he’s a shark smelling blood in the water and Yuri’s a seal swimming into an ambush, but Yuri’s a predator too, and the real prize is elsewhere.

 

* * *

 

Yuri doesn’t wait long at the restaurant, sipping at the bottle of red the Dean had sent along with compliments. It’s a terrible bottle, he’ll have to replace the Dean forthwith. 

 

Otabek pushes past the curtain closing off the private booth from the rest of the restaurant, “I’m sorry I’m late.” Then he blanches. Yuri smiles all teeth. Otabek, still caught up in the curtain frowns, “Is that blood?”

 

Fuck, the red. Yuri hastily clears the stain with a sip of water. “Hello Dr. Altin. Or should I say my best, most amazing, fantastic, swoon-worthy boyfriend?” Maybe he’s a little drunk; that came out in the wrong order. Shit. “Come on, I didn’t lead the Dean on in covering the tab for this restaurant just to not have dinner. Sit. Pretend like you’re convincing me I need to come be faculty here in Toronto.”

 

“‘Pretend’ would imply that it’s a foregone conclusion.” Still Otabek sits and unfolds one of the fancy linen napkins to his lap. 

 

Yuri ignores that - it’s a conversation for a later time. “So you’re Dr. Altin. This puts our first meeting in a whole new light.”

 

Otabek pinks across his nose, and damn him for not turning bright red like Yuri. “That wasn’t the first time we met.” 

 

What. “What.” Ah, yes, Yuri’s eloquence, it has not failed him.

 

“We met once as undergrads. You were... in a word brilliant.” Tell Yuri something he hadn’t already known. Otabek hurries on, shame. “But, if you’re referring to the time JJ set us up. I didn’t know I was meeting you, though I suppose JJ knew who you were and -” Otabek trails off, and Yuri’s had just enough bad wine for the section of his brain dedicated to social cues gets its act together to register.

 

“Oh my McClintock,  _ you had a crush on me. _ ” Which is entirely flattering. Then the second shoe drops. “You used academic papers to  _ flirt _ with me.” Yuri thunks his head against the table; he knows his face is bright red in embarrassment - damned pale skin - but also that’s romantic as hell. If there were a socially acceptable way to lie down and froth at the mouth because Feelings, Yuri would be doing it right now. Otabek, incriminatingly, doesn’t deny it.

 

He vaguely hears a waiter come by, but since Yuri knows his boyfriend he’ll put good money Otabek is also flushing and all in all the scene probably looks awkward enough that the waiter leaves without their orders. 

 

It takes some time but Yuri manages to vaguely collect himself. “Right. Um.” He can’t look Otabek in the eye right now, great. “That seems to be the sort of overly romantic thing you tell the grandchildren.” And fuck his tipsy brain. Freudian slip, even though Freud was a fraud.

 

Oh good. Otabek looks poleaxed too. Glad they’re in the same boat together. Yuri doesn’t know what to do. There’s no salvaging his plan for this conversation at all. 

 

“Are you going to break up with me?” 

 

“What!? No.” Yuri bolts upright. When was breaking up on the table?? The waiter comes back with poutine. Why. What even. He and Otabek share a Look. A Michelin starred restaurant with poutine. Only Canada. 

 

“What do you say we get some steaks to go and go back to my place?” Otabek looks like he’s about to combust, but Yuri’s  _ game _ .

 

“Sure. Then we can get on the punishment portion of the evening quicker.” Otabek eyes Yuri warily. “Not the tie thing, I’m going to have you help me grade undergrad exams.” Otabek raises an eyebrow, unimpressed and not buying it. “Then the tie thing.” His expression smooths out. 

 

“Deal.” 

 

“Great. Now, let’s plot how we’re going to get a joint Nobel Prize while we wait.” Yuri has  _ priorities _ okay, and it was all well and good when his boyfriend was just smart, but now he’s verifiably someone who can rip apart Baldie and Yuri has  _ Power Couple _ fantasies that can now be made fact. Shit. Maybe he needs to send JJ a thank you gift, for setting them up. “Do you think JJ would appreciate a maple-scented butt plug?” 

**Author's Note:**

> \- Jump-dispersal theory was proposed by Darwin and laughed out of the field until very recently, when someone DID prove it with statistics. Caused a bit of a shake about in evolutionary genetics.  
> \- Any scientist last name in here is a Real Scientist who made Significant contributions to Science or Genetics.  
> \- Yes that Watson is of Watson and Crick Fame and He Is A Piece of Shit Because He Pioneered Eugenics The End  
> \- After this they go on to be Hot, Smart, and totally Dominate their Field; it is also the best "worst" kept secret that they're rivals who bone on the regular
> 
> Come scream with me on [ tumblr](http://modernart2012.tumblr.com)!


End file.
